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Monday, October 19, 2009

F Is For The Fatness

So last night, I once again hit Stevi B's pizza buffet. I'm not sure what it is about buffet restaurants that suppresses kids' appetites, but it seems every time we go to one, be it Ryan's, Golden Corral, Cici's Pizza or even the salad bar at Ruby Tuesday, they're suddenly "not very hungry". Last night was a case in point... we get in there and pay, grab our plates, they load theirs up, I load as much pizza as I can get on mine, we head to the table, they eat about six bites and say "I'm not very hungry."

So I said, "Well, why did you want to come here then? It's... a... BUFFET."

See, when I was growing up we didn't have much money, and after my parents split up and it was just us and Mum, we had even less, so I was raised to eat whenever there's an opportunity to eat, because you never know when the food might run out. I was also raised to eat what was offered and not complain, unlike kids these days, who think they can just turn their nose up at what's on offer and some kind-hearted sap will go fix them something else, or worse, will run up the street to Mickey D's or whatever and buy them some fast food. Ugh. This is why we are a nation of fatties. Here's a little illustration to prove this point.

By the way, the title of today's post is to do with a Father's Day card I received from my son Charlie when he was in Kindergarten or first grade wherein the word FATHER was made into an acronym and the kids wrote down something about their dads that started with each letter. I get mine, open it up, and read the first line, "F is for the Fatness..."

Obesity, it should be said, is not a euphemism for being overweight. It means being so fat that one’s health is affected. You are defined as obese if you have a body mass index of 30 or over (with a bmi of between 25 and 30, you are merely overweight). The US is the most overweight nation in the world, with over a quarter of the total population being obese. Obesity is a global phenomenon, however. It was recently reported that for the first time in history, there are now more overweight than malnourished people in the world.